Natural

Written by Marcus Gorman
Directed by Jen Moon

Feb 3 – Feb 18
Tues & Wed at 8pm
$10 gen | $5 stu

Bookstore clerks, bloggers, baristas, bartenders, and businessmen.
Six Seattleites unravel messy, urban lives of retail hell, online erotica, and crises of sexual identity in this black comedy set in a world of grays.

“It’s often very funny. At times, the dialogue is so sharp it feels like what might happen if David Mamet concerned himself with such trivialities…. As Chloe, Pilar O’Connell has most of the best lines, and the comedic timing to get some of the best laughs of the play…. Shane Regan, who plays Arthur (or Art, but not Artie), also deserves praise for his performance. Like O’Connell, I enjoyed his comedic timing, but I also thought he did a great job playing a character that has to be a different person for his boyfriend, his girlfriend, and his coworker…. I think Marcus Gorman nicely captured a time when every personal dilemma feels like melodrama to its participants…. there are some great moments with some great performances and some great laughs to be found in here.” – The Journal of Preciptation

2 Comments

Great casting and great direction light the stage on a slow-burning fire in one of the best shows I’ve ever seen on the Annex stage. The hyperrealism of this script is a breath a fresh air in a theatre scene that often seems more concerned with being stylistically unprecedented or narratively complicated than in crafting genuinely captivating storytelling. Don’t get me wrong – extreme fantasy can be engaging and rewarding. But I believe that theatre is at its finest when we can take something of it back to our real lives. This show sets up relatable characters in a contemporary but nonspecific setting and forces the audience into real investment in their real dilemmas. We see diverse but convincing personalities, motivations, and decisions, complete with well-executed narrative turns; and it doesn’t hurt that the throughline about sexual and relationship identity is as vital and immediate as any prominent issue in contemporary society. There’s no hunting for the conceit or waiting for the reveal, and the show captivates despite – or more likely because of – the absence of such obvious devices. In short, Natural is the sort of show I want to see a lot more of.